Damaged Cultural House after shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine

BRUSSELS, January 19. /TASS/. The situation in Ukraine in the context of preparations for a possible summit of the Normandy quartet, including Germany, Russia, France, Ukraine, will be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday.

“We’ll report about preparations for the summit in Astana that some countries want to be held. Of course, contacts are maintained permanently on this issue,” Steinmeier said.

The foreign ministers of the Normandy Quartet met in Berlin last week and the meeting did not yield desired results, he said.

“We’ll see if it is in a different way this week. One cannot reason at this point. In any case this week we should decide if we are on the way to holding the summit or not,” Steinmeier said.

The so-called Normandy format was established in June when Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko discussed the Ukrainian crisis on the sidelines of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day in Normandy, France.

The EU ministerial meeting will also focus on relations with Russia, counter-terrorism in light of the recent terrorist acts in France and the situation in the Middle East, Steinmeier said.